Happiness

The problem is that the dark side of the human nature will take over. People will die just because they are on a list to donate organs. there are alot of bad drs in this world that wouldn't think twice of letting someone die so they could profit for the organs. Money is the root of all evil. Take a good look at the people in India that sell there kidneys http://www.american.edu/TED/KIDNEY.HTM here is just one of many sites.

Maybe one more question on the donor cards should be Do you wish your donated organs stay in the country that you reside in if there is a match. and another that states if there is no match it may go elsewhere. I don't agree with the selling of organs as it creates the platform for illegal activities.

pro choice, pro death penalty, pro euthenasia

I know that small town and big city are on different spectrums of the ambulance needed scale. In my career I can only think of few times that a pt has actually refused to go. This in usualy because some third party has decided that they need to go to the hospital. They only time I had discouraged a pt from going to the hospital was a guy in jail that had broken his elbow 2 week prior and wanted out of the drunk tank (I was called for pain). In all cases they sign the lines on the back of my form and I go on my merry way. There are two ways I look at this issue. One is that I am getting paid for 4 hrs and most of my calls last 1-2 hrs so if I am getting paid I will do my job and to me that is to take care of someone who needs my help. (I do realize bigger places are totaly different) The second thing is that if a pt calls me for help then there is something going on and I am not a doctor. Here is a good example of that. I was call for a fainting. Thats it, everything was stable but the guy fainted. I noticed one other thing and that was that he was burping alot. Somewhere in my career I had heard that belching was indicitive to cardiac conditions and sure enough 1 hr later the guy had a full blown heart attack. Now I think that if my training I was told that fainting isn't a reason to take someone to the hospital (who hasn't fainted) I would have been called back to do CPR. So I say better safe that sorry.

You are called to a home and you go into the bathroom to find a 300 lb male appox 42 years old. You notice that he is over the toilet with dry heaves. He is pale and sweaty. bp is 180/80, and pulse is 120 and bounding. He has no complaints of chest pain but does complain of exahaustion. His other complaint is that he is dizzy as soon as he moves. He discribes it as the room is spinning. The diagnosis of this pt was an inner ear infection, so my question would be why did this pt present as a cardiac issue. Is this what you want

Since I live in a native community I have seen a few. One that works for a sore throat is layer sliced onions and brown sugar in a mason jar and put in the fridge. Once the juice starts to form have a table spoon. The other one is simmering u wood (which is highly toxic) for 3 days and then you drink it (there is more to it than is sounds). This is suppose to be good for blood diseases. My mother in law did this after she found out that she had lukemia (was given 6 weeks) and she lived for an extra 3 years and I have to say I have never seen anyone that was so sick be so active up until the last day of her life. There are so many different plants here it makes it a haven for the home made remedies.

One of saddest call I had was a older gentleman who had died in house on a hot summer evening. He was a member of the local people who drank something called sherry 74 hence they were call the sherry 74 gang. His common law wife had woken up to find him on the edge of bed dead. She had walked around town that day telling people that he was at home dead. Not one person she had told took her seriously and he was in that house for another 24 hrs until the RCMP had gotten wind of it and went to check it out. When we got there the VFM were outside and they said the RCMP were inside, they didn't know what was going on and refused to enter the house (one of the guys had gone in and came out running and puking at the same time). As we entered the shack my foot slipped alittle and when I looked down I had stepped in green slime of something. Looking around I saw dishes piled so high and covered with slime and mold. There was garbage and bottles everywhere and this slime (still have no idea what it was and don't want to know). I had my paramedic nose turned off and the smell didn't really bother me to much at this time. My partner all of a sudden said Oh poor Simon. When I looked in her direction I saw Simon laying back on his bed (more slime) with his mouth open and a swarm of small fruit flies swarming his head. Then it hit me the smell, I started to gag and said I have to go outside for the stretcher and off I went. As I was comming back in I noticed the RCMP officer looking around and the fridge open and the smell. They had been using the fridge as if it was a working appliance. Then I saw the slime again at the bottom of the fridge just dripping out of it. The fridge was full of rotting deer meat, and what ever else could rot. The smell was even worse that the rotting corpse that was on the bed. The coroner released the body and we had to take him to the morgue. I had to convince the fire guys to come and help and a couple put vicks under their noses and we got him out in the fasted of time ever. It is hard to imagine in this day and age that people do actually live in those conditions but it is everywhere. Sometimes you just have to grin and bare it. happy

Yes it is true that we are in a thankless profession or so they say. I have been thanked, given appoligies, hugs and recieved cards. It is the greatest feeling in the world to know that you have done something for someone else and they remember. I to have been thanked by a tourist that comes here every few years. He was on north beach and broke his ankle. He was lucky to be wearing rubber boots as they acted as a splint and was becomming shocky as he rode his quad to us. (we don't have a 4x4 ambulance so we had to wait) Lucky my son was on the beach that day with his dirt bike and was the communication between the pt and us. A few years later he came up to me to say thank-you and how nice I was to him. (im thinking the shock was really clouding his memories)

sorry didn't read tramatic

Correct me if im wrong but this condition is rare and in 13 years I have seen one. I was one of the crew that helped medivac him out. As I try to learn from my calls I had asked the nurse why the dr thought this was the issue. He said that if you ever hear one you will know. I put my steth and listened and he was right it has a very distinced sound. It was wooshing sound like you hear with a baby ultrasound heart beat. I personally have never heard about the side to do a BP. I now in my assessment take a bp on both sides and when listening to the abdonminal area I will listen for that sound. I have been told by one of our Dr about if the BP is different and I was told that it is an indication to hardening of the arteries.

All I can say is "No wonder people walk, run or drive by accidents"

leave them (have my own i want too leave) leave one fully decorated real christmas tree

Dust just so you know I like living in BC. Maybe you should come and visit you'd probably have the time of your life. That is if you could keep up. We just do what we have to do to get the job done in hickville lol

Dust not only is it more than 2 hrs away it is a 1.5 hr to the ferry, the ferry is 8hrs to 2 days and then you drive another 2 to get to the closest town that has a funeral home. the only ones that do this are the ones that are going to be cremated. If a autopsy is required they are flown to Vancouver and then back. If no autopsy they stay in our morgue until the service.

Maybe I should make something clear. We do have a second car if really needed but it isn't always available because it is the island spare. It is in service when the other ones are in the shop. And to tell you the truth I really don't mind the body removal as I live in a Native community and I know the customs so I have the ability of not offending the family. It may not seem like a big thing to those who are not connected to community as closely as you are in small towns. I think in BC there are only 2 area's that ask the ambulance to transport the dead ones. The Charlottes and a small community on Vancouver Island. There are just sometimes when geographics don't fit the policies.

Dust if another call comes in before the body is loaded we go, if the body is in the ambulance then off to the morgue i go. You have to keep in mind when you FAIL me I live in a very small community and I have never had to leave a body for another call in 13 years. We have no coroner here, we have to call off island to get one,so we are it for body removal.

Here we are the body removal. We put the body in a body bag and then onto the cot. We then place a sheet over the bag and tuck in the sides, strap them up and off to the morgue.

Please don't make this a debate site for any remidies. I have put this on her favorites so she can come in and see what others are suggesting. Thanks again to all Happiness

We live on an Island that is surrounded by beaches. Our ambulance is not 4x4 and is way to heavy to travel on the sand and peat gravel. I have never had to go by Truck to a pt but if need be I could take mine to the patient and ask to have a helicopter fly from about 30 min away if need be. I would have to concider weather and location of the patient. We have alot of tourist that bring their quads and bike to burn around the dunes ect so I guess it could happen. There are times that medics I guess just have to think outside the box not only in medical issues but in the transport of them to.

We just have your plain ole docs here and they don't seem to help much. Thanks again I will be passing all of this on to her. Happiness

I am asking you who know about artritis. A very good friend of mine has artritis and it is now becomming very dibilitating for her. She is in her early 50's, non drinker or smoker, eats very well and is generally in good health with the exception of a low thyroid condition. She has hired a personal trainer to help her with an exercise program. She does recieve a shot (i forgot to ask what it was) every week and that seems to help for a few days. She has also tried alot of anti inflamitory drugs as well. If anyone can give some advise for her I would appreciate it. Thank you in advance Happiness

leave it i dont hate you leave stained glass xmas decoration

Good topic. I work in very close knit community and I have come across this in the back of the ambulance. If I suspect that a girl is pregnant (because iv been called for a fainting). When it comes time to ask the question "Is there a chance you may be pregnant" I get close to my pts ear and whisper it to her or I will wait to be in the back of the car. If she says this maybe a possibility I encourage her to tell her parents. I will not tell the parents as it is better coming from the child. I was 18 when I had to tell my parents and no matter how hard it was to tell them it was better than someone else telling them. The other thing you have to contend with this particular subject is that there are times that you go into a home and everything appears to be nice and cozy but as we all know it isn't always that way. Children that are in abusive homes are less likely to open up and if you are lucky to get them to do it with you, don't break that trust because it will never come back. I have also been told other things in confidence by teens and I have always encouraged them to tell there parents what is going on. Many times I have had the parents come to me and ask why I didn't say anything and the reply from me is "Who do you want to hear it from me or your kid" and the answer back is the child. Having a childs trust is a very important thing to me. In my position in the community the kids know me and my family and they know they can come and talk to me anytime, and all kids really need is someone that is bias that will help them through whatever is going on. When it comes to going to the Drs. I make my kids do their own appointments (3 boys and they started at 12) and they know I will go if they want me to. I have gone to everyone of my boys appointments with their permission. I feel that parents should let the kids make the appointments as it teaches them how to do it, that they can go without mom or dad and that they can have a confidential appointment with their drs. Drs need to be able to have a relationship with the kids that they see and I personally think that unless a child is in immediate danger that confidentiality should pervail. I personally haven't had a kid say anything to me yet that would make me feel that I have to go to the parents about and I hope that I never have to have that experience because I really don't know if it would be the parents I would go to. The one thing I make sure is that if a child is apprehensive about talking it is the Dr that I have gone to in the past. Crotchity I don't know what part of Canada your from but I have never heard of a parent going and getting a copy of my report. I don't know if they even can in BC. I think that the original post was if you as the attending Dr or emt do you break confidentiality on things other than imediate danger to parents not whether you document it. If you have good reporting skills you document everything that is said to you in your assesment.

the 3 post rule was to make sure that the people that were becomming members of the city were joining to get the full benifit, and contribute something to the website. Not just to create an account to get into the chat room. there are many accounts that have been created just to get to the rooms and they are the ones that usually create the drama. Maybe admin should answer this one as it was his idea

I don't clear c-spine in the field, I will error on the side of caution.